Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the House. When I went through details of foreign languages being offered in the education system, with particular reference to what I consider to be minority languages, I was surprised to learn that Mandarin Chinese does not feature on the school curriculum. To put the issue in context, in the junior certificate uptake last year, five schools provided Hebrew studies for 165 pupils, while Hebrew studies was provided in four schools for 104 pupils in the leaving certificate. Arabic is being provided by ten schools for ten pupils and in 2010 three schools provided ancient Greek for 20 pupils. While I do not have anything against the classics and I was fascinated by the number of pupils taking Hebrew studies at junior and leaving certificate levels, based on a number of comments made to me and research I have carried out and the growing cultural and trade links with China, it is self-evident that the Department should give consideration to offering Mandarin Chinese as a curriculum subject.

The most recent trade figures show that Ireland trebled its exports to China between March 2010 and March 2011. I understand that while the Chinese embassy website has an education section, the material supplied does not refer to learning Mandarin. I pay tribute to the UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland which has been actively developing and promoting the subject of Chinese and culture for post-primary schools with the result that in the academic year 2011-12 Chinese language and culture will be officially taught in Irish post-primary schools nationally, first as a transition year unit with the aim of expanding to become a full curricular subject.

I am grateful to the Oireachtas Library and Research Service for providing me with much background information, including a copy of an article which appeared in the Irish Independent. The piece was written by Dr. Liming Wang, co-author of the book, Doing Business in China: The Irish Experience. The article notes that China achieved GDP growth of 10.3% in 2010 in the middle of a world recession, has overtaken Germany as the world's largest exporter and is the second largest economy in the world after the United States. Already, 50 million people around the globe are learning Chinese, with schools showing an ever increasing interest in the subject. However, according to research published in the aforementioned book, lack of language competence and ignorance of Chinese culture inhibits trade synergies between the two sides.

Dr. Liming Wang notes that a national survey of post-primary schools conducted by the UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland found that Irish schools would like to have Mandarin on the curriculum. Thus far, a national syllabus has not been agreed and courses vary in nature according to the needs and objectives of each school. According to Dr. Liming Wang, the "absence of a formal Irish syllabus or examination course limits the recognition students can gain for their learning". He adds: "The growth of the Chinese economy and the enormous business potential to Ireland is far greater than that provided by countries such as France and Germany, whose languages are currently promoted by the post-primary Languages Initiative." Chinese, he wrote, is arguably "more important than even the current 'mainstream' languages of French and German". I add a caveat to the extent that Germany ranks among our largest three trading partners. Dr. Liming Wang believes the cost of not including Mandarin in an admittedly crowded curriculum would be much greater than the cost of not meeting this challenge and he notes that Mandarin is already a curriculum language in many countries, including the United Kingdom, where its popularity is steadily growing. I agree with his conclusion that if Ireland does not act quickly, it will be left behind.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I am replying to this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn. I thank the Senator for raising this issue.

A range of foreign languages is available on the curriculum in schools - French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese and Arabic - at post-primary level. A post-primary languages initiative has been in place since 2000 with the objective of diversifying language provision in schools, focusing particularly on Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Russian. Some 81% of second level pupils study three languages, Irish, English and a continental language, to completion of upper second level and more than 70% of schools offer two foreign languages or more.

I am aware of the demand for expansion of the range of languages on offer in post-primary schools, particularly in regard to Mandarin Chinese and Polish. However, the fact remains that continued reductions in public expenditure will be essential over the coming years, allied with further reductions in public sector numbers. Of necessity, this must constrain the degree to which additional subjects can be accommodated in our schools.

I appreciate the importance of Chinese language learning in promoting trade and development between Ireland and China as part of the Asia strategy. The core issue is what model of language provision best serves the strategic needs of business and industry in furthering trade and development with China and how scarce resources should be prioritised.

While there are many cultural advantages to widening access to language learning generally in schools, provision of a limited number of hours tuition in the context of the school curriculum would not necessarily equip students with the language skills needed to do business with or in China, nor would it be targeted at a population with this specific need in mind. A more targeted and intensive provision can be provided in further or higher education. Postgraduate and honours degree level programmes in Chinese are offered in University College Cork and honours degree level programmes are provided in University College Dublin and the Dublin Institute of Technology. In addition, a post-leaving certificate course in Chinese with business studies is offered in Ballsbridge College of Further Education and a further 15 higher and further education colleges offer part-time evening courses in Chinese at modest cost. The Institutes for Chinese Studies in UCD and UCC both offer tuition on an outreach basis to schools in their locality, in partnership with the Confucius Institutes. The Department will continue to work closely with the colleges and the Confucius Institutes to support and progress this initiative.

In higher education in the 2009 to 2010 period, a total of 5,200 students were enrolled on programmes with a foreign language component, an overall increase of 16% since 2007. The Institutes of Technology, or IoT, Languages Strategy Network is adopting a proactive approach to language learning and training, fostering inter-institutional collaboration for languages in the sector. The Erasmus study abroad programme has seen an increase in the number of students who have taken a study visit or placement abroad.

The Department and its agencies will continue to engage with industry to ensure that education responds in so far as it is possible to the emerging needs of enterprise in this area. The issue of additional languages in second level schools will be revisited when the budgetary situation improves. I again thank the Senator for raising this matter.

Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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I am grateful to the Minister for elaborating on the issue I raised. In the continuing review and monitoring of language availability in our schools, I notice Russian is given a priority. However, the burgeoning trade between Ireland and China would suggest, in respect of how other countries are approaching this issue, that there is a need for the Department to monitor how it is developing in terms of the application of Russian, how many students are taking Russian and what impact it is having commercially and to weigh that up against the importance of the Chinese economy.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I will convey the Senator's views to the Minister, Deputy Ruairí Quinn. In the last 12 months there have been increasing trade opportunities with Russia, particularly within the agricultural sector, so we might need to continue focusing on that language. However, I agree with the Senator that we should have an ongoing rolling review of foreign language provision in second level schools to ensure that it best meets the needs of students and of industry and trade in opening new markets in coming years.